1st Edition

Managing Museums and Galleries

By Michael Fopp Copyright 1997
    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    The current economic climate, coupled with an all embracing desire for museums to be respondent to 'the market' make a proper grounding in management essential. The 'bottom line' is one of the most powerful measures of management performance. Museums and galleries invariably have a neutral bottom line, they are not set up to make a profit and many of them are constrained by governmental accounting rules and charity legislation. Managing these organisations is difficult and this book tackles the issues that make it easier.
    Managing the Museum examines the highly sophisticated principles and techniques of modern business management from the perspective of museums and galleries and delineates their practical application. This volume surveys the day-to-day issues of time management, delegation and recruitment to the problems of strategic planning and initiating and controlling conflict and change. This study incorporates the needs of both the independent and national sectors and discusses the links between the museum and commerce.

    Introduction 1 The history of management and the museum context 2 Managing yourself: the ‘player manager’ 3 Managing other people 4 Choosing your team 5 Developing staff 6 Communication 7 Leadership 8 Strategic planning and the management of resources 9 Managing organisations 10 Organisation structure 11 Structural patterns and the division of work 12 Culture, conflict and change 13 Total Quality Management in museums and galleries 14 Conclusions for museum managers

    Biography

    Michael A. Fopp is Director of the Royal Air Force Museum, London. He has twenty years of museum experience, of which more than half has been spent directing major museums in the independent and national sector.